Russian phrasebookPhrases in Russian with audio and video

Restaurant

When you go to eat to a restaurant, a good communication can keep you away from unpleasant surprises. You may be the client at a Russian restaurant or maybe a Russian client comes to your restaurant. In any case, here you're going to learn basic phrases to help you move smoothly from the main dish to the dessert. You'll even learn how to say "enjoy your meal!":

Part 1: Video

Summary of this topic with images and sound:

Watch the most important words and phrases of this topic below.

Useful phrases when you are the client:

Useful phrases when you talk to a client:

Part 2: Audio and explanations

Listen to the audio, read the explanations and get ready to learn real Russian.

We have the menu in English

Let's think of two possible scenarios. In the first one, you're in a Russian restaurant and you ask if they have the menu in English. In the second situation, a Russian client comes to your restaurant and asks if you have the menu in Russian:

Вы хоти́те меню́ на друго́м языке́?vy ha-tí-tye mye-nyú na dru-góm ye-zy-kyé?Would you like the menu in a different language?

Are you ready to order?

We already have the menu in our hands and we're ready to order. Sometimes we don't know what to have and we wait for a recommendation. For example a typical dish from the area. Below we're going to listen to those phrases:

What would you like?

We're now going to see 3 different ways of asking the same question: What would you like? As you can see, you have to complete the first sentence so it makes sense, while the other two phrases can be used as they are:

How to say "I'd like..."

We're done reading the menu and we're ready to order. In Russian there are two ways of saying "I'd like...": one for men and a different one for women. You don't need to know the grammatical explanation of this. Just use the right form for you:

Я хоте́л бы...ya ha-tyél by...I'd like...Say this if you are a man

Я хоте́ла бы...ya ha-tyé-la by...I'd like...Say this if you are a woman

Я хоте́л бы э́то.ya ha-tyél by é-taI'd like this / that.You can say this while pointing to the dish (on the menu or what someone else is eating) you'd like to have. This is a useful phrase to say a lot with few words.

Other phrases

We've created this list with a choice of phrases that you may hear at a restaurant. As for "Smoking or non-smoking?", it's something that soon will be a thing of the past, but it's still useful to know it in certain countries: